Flawed and Mercurial Genius

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Steve Jobs called Walter Isaacson in 2004 and requested him to write his biography. Isaacson, a former Managing Editor of Time, and Chairman, CNN, and biographer of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, initially refused, but relented when he heard of Jobs’ battle with cancer. The book took two years to write and Isaacson had unlimited access to Jobs, his family, friends and foes. He was encouraged by Laurene Jobs, Steve’s wife, to tell it as it is.

It is a book that will be a best-seller. It is a book that comes closest to unravelling Jobs, the flawed and mercurial genius. I found the book insightful and revealing. Jobs was an abandoned, adopted child. That made him feel bad and special at the same time. His adoptive parents, Clara and Paul Jobs, went out of their way to make him feel special. He got his way every time. This pattern continued through his life as he cajoled people, threatened them or cried to have his way.

Jobs did a summer job with HP when he was 12; his first job was with Atari, where he was put on night shift because he could not work with the others. Jobs wanted to build a company like HP that outlasted others. That is one of the reasons he came back to run Apple for a second time.

Jobs impacted six industries and will be seen as one of the game changers in technology. Jobs brought a unique combination of art, design and end-to-end hardware and software fusion to delight and surpass consumer expectations. He fussed over minute details and people labelled him ‘obsessive’. This obsession led to the 1984 Apple ad, to the iTunes-Bob Dylan ad, to the iMac. Any idea was‘shit’or okay and he was labelled a tyrant. He judged people quickly and loved people standing up to him. He would reject an idea one day and recycle it as his own a few days later. People labelled him ‘unpredictable’ and ‘self-centred’. He wanted his products, his team and Apple to succeed, but he also wanted more than the credit for his role and contribution. When he came back to run Apple, he took a monthly salary of $1 for four years and wanted that message to get across to the employees. However when the board wanted to reward him, he asked for a private jet “to spend more time with family”and demanded stock options way above what the board was proposing. He justi- fied it as something deserving of his contribution. Board members were surprised by the dichotomy.

The book details his duels with John Sculley, Bill Gates, Disney, the music industry. Everyone saw Jobs as a genius who could translate technology to change consumer experience, but was wary of dealing with him and never sure of getting a good deal from him. He was widely admired, but not trusted.

Jobs was a Bob Dylan and Beatles fan. He had the full Dylan collection on his iPod and was mesmerised by the Beatles. He was never a hierarchy person and would skip levels to talk to people. He would also pick up the phone and speak to all the key ecosystem partners on his own: chip makers, rock stars, suppliers, etc. His biggest and boldest moves came when he recognised his failing health. In his Stanford commencement address in 2005, he spoke of death in emotional and challenging terms. He took Apple into phones and launched the iPad and the Apple retail stores after he started his battle with cancer.

Not everything that Jobs touched turned to gold. He also had a lot of self-doubt. He nearly killed the iPod Shuffle before it was launched. The Shuffle was the product that took Apple’s share in music from 31 per cent to 74 per cent.

Jobs was a genius. Very few people will achieve what he has done in the last 30 years. He will be among the 10 people who changed the world for the better. For a man who believed in technology and its impact, he did not use technology to save himself from cancer. He relied on the natural way and we lost a genius who could have served the world for a few more years.

I loved reading the biography and getting a glimpse into the life of this genius. The reviewer is Chairman, Nokia India